Tomorrow Is Not Promised

So many times we tell ourselves that we will “do it tomorrow” but what we fail to remember is that tomorrow is not promised. Since this is the last post for 2018, I thought it was appropriate to think for a minute, what if tomorrow never comes? How many things would we miss out on because we said we would do it tomorrow? When I think back on my own life there are many missed opportunities because I kept telling myself I would do it tomorrow, next week, next month or next year. Some of those missed opportunities I looked back on with regret and realized that I took for granted the opportunity I had and lost out on something that could have been very memorable. Now, sometimes we can’t take the opportunity when it presents itself due to financial reasons or even time constraints. The truth is, how many missed opportunities were because we didn’t want to take the time we had or we just decided that there would always be another opportunity later? These are the very things I am asking, why did we say we would do it tomorrow? Was it something within ourselves that caused us to hesitate? If we are honest, was it easier to say we would do it tomorrow because it was easier than admitting the truth, that we didn’t believe in ourselves to follow through with the opportunity?

So why is it that it is easier to make the excuse than to admit the truth and face our insecurities? Is it the allusion that we make ourselves believe so we don’t challenge ourselves as to not let ourselves down and prove that we can not do something we want to do? For myself, the fear of failure has limited me in many opportunities I wanted to seize but I kept telling myself I would tomorrow after…. . In some cases it was after I improved in or when I was financially more stable. Unfortunately, many of those tomorrows never happened and at one point in my life I found myself living with regret and feeling defeated. In other cases it was that I wanted to take the opportunities but the timing was not convenient for me. This was the case with my grandpa and our trip in the RV out west. It was an adventure I wanted to take with him and see all the historical places I was studying in college and that he had told me about as a little girl. Unfortunately this trip never happened because the timing of his diagnoses with cancer and the timeframe it was on took the tomorrow away from us taking that trip. I wish now that I had made the time work for us to have taken that trip in the first two years of my undergraduate degree so I would have those amazing memories and stories to share with my children. Instead I have made it a lesson of why you need to take the opportunities when they are given and not let them pass you by because in this case, tomorrow was NOT promised and the opportunity was gone like the tide that washes away that precious object to the sea to be lost forever.

So how do we avoid the trap of doing it tomorrow when tomorrow may not come? That is simple, why wait? If it is because you are not in a position to financially afford the opportunity then start saving today to make sure that when the opportunity is there the next time you can take it. This requires a plan and a purpose for maintaining that plan. The same thing is true if you just don’t have the time, can you make the time or if the answer is not now, set the plan in motion so you can make the time available so you have that opportunity the next time. What is if you are not ready to take the opportunity, like running a 5K, then you have to set a plan in motion to prepare for it from now until the next opportunity. If you can set out a plan and keep to the plan, not only are you seizing the opportunity but you have then proven to yourself that you have it within yourself to make the time you need to take action today and you do not need to wait for tomorrow the next time. If we really want something then we have to work for it, plan for it and seize today so that tomorrow does not pass us by again. Life is too short to say you will do it tomorrow so seize today, take the leap of faith in yourself and take action. Please do not find yourself looking back on those lost tomorrows with regret and disappointment in yourself because you didn’t take today and make it happen. Yes, this can be a terrifying thing but isn’t the alternative even more terrifying? Do you want to be at the end of your life saying if only I had tomorrow I would…. . At that point there is no more tomorrows left and that, to me, is the most terrifying thing. Start living your life to take action today and to stop waiting for tomorrow because tomorrow is not promised and, as my grandma use to say, you will just continue to wish your life away. You are worth more, you deserve more, you CAN do more. Remind yourself of this everyday. For myself, I have one of those My Intent bracelets with Tomorrow and my birthday on it to remind me that with each passing year I lose more of those tomorrows and I need to start taking action today. 2019 is full of promise and yet another birthday. Do you want to make this the year that you stop saying tomorrow and start making tomorrow happen today? Why wait because non of us knows how many tomorrows we have left. Have faith in yourself and take action today. Yes, you may get there slowing on somethings but the point is that you will get there. You WILL get there!